Cingular 8125 Battery Woes

If the battery level falls below 2/3 you can only charge the 8125 by using wall socket charger and not through USB/PC

Well, it has been plugged into the wall charger for 3 days now and it is dead as a door nail. Thanks though.

I agree.. the 8125 is CRAP when it come to killing batteries.. I’m on my 3rd one for the same device. Cingular refuses to acknowledge any issue, and my “30 day” refund date has passed… So they basically have said.. “Sorry Dude”

I had the same problem, my phone went dead leaving Canada, going into Michigan where I was visiting my father. Went to Cingular in Kalamazoo Mi, and called Cust Service. No luck, would not replace phone after 2 days, and had to drive home to Georgia with no phone. Thanks for nothing Cingular! Signed on with Sprint.

I just had an interesting experience with my 8125 battery. While on vacation last week I let my battery go completely dead (shame on me). The after-market wall and car chargers and USB cable couldn’t kick start the battery into charging, so I called Cingular yesterday for a replacement after owning the phone for > 3 months – it will arrive tomorrow.

I arrived home last night from vacation and plugged the phone into the OEM charger, and to my surprise, the battery is charging. I can only guess the after-market chargers don’t drive as much current at the OEM charger.

For some reason I just don’t see that as being true. We need someone with an electronics bench to test these things out.

I plug in my 8125 every night, this morning I woke up and it was only at 30% and did not show that it was charging when it was plugged in with either the wall charger or sync cable. So I went into the store I bought it from and they replaced the battery (It’s been 34 days so I had to complain a little bit)…..To my surprise though, after taking out the original battery and puting it back in it shows 98% and it charges now when I plug it in (It must of been just a software type issue). At least now I have a backup battery!

This exact problem happened with my first battery on the 31st day of ownership, but I was camping so wasn’t able to go to the store until the 36th day and they wouldn’t do anything. Said I had to mail it in… So I had my girlfriend take it in to another store and they happily replaced the battery for her. Now it’s happened again… Luckily I carry my RAZR around as a spare so I just have to switch the sim card, and they use the same charger. Does anyone sell a charger where you can pull the battery out of the phone and put it in the charger?

I’m on my 3rd battery already. Luckily, they were all just handed to me when I barged into my local Cingular store looking somewhat upset. I’m 6’4″ and very built, so when I look upset, it gets me things. I can’t seem to figure out any pattern to how to remedy the issue, but I tried most of the recommendations posted here and still had issues. I just upgraded the ROM, so I’m hoping this doesn’t happen again with the new OS on the thing. But all this being said, I love this device. I’ve had the opportunity to play with competing devices (Treo (650 & 700W), various Blackberry devices and some HP devices (my boss is a geek, so we play with this stuff often ). The 8125 is by far the best device out of the bunch, for me anyway. The manual says to charge every night, so I got into that habit and try not to let the battery run down too low.

Try flashing the ROM, it does seem to improve the interface and the direct push from Exchange servers. Saves a ton of memory, since you don’t need to load all the GoodLink stuff. Since there’s so much more memory available, it seems to run a lot faster.

Hello All;

I’m worried about my battery now. I got my 8125 a few days ago, and today, I had the phone on the wall socket charger all night, I left at 11 am est and came back home around 2:30pm est. The battery died before I got home. Completely dead. I used the phone for a 4 minute phone call during that time, and to browse the web for about 7 minutes tops. So in 11-12 minutes of usage, my phone killed a 100% fully charged battery. This is insane.

Where can I get a replacement battery for the 8125? I went to 4 Cingular stores and they all said they couldn’t get one. Help!

You guys have me worried. I just bought the 8125. I saw someone say I should try flashing the ROM, how do I go about that???

Jayme, check out my post on updating the ROM on your Cingular 8125.

I’ve had my phone since April, and I’ve had no such problems. Even with me overclocking the processor, smooth sailing. Try wiping the battery contacts in the phone and on the battery.

Gosh Should I get the 8125 sounds like a nightmare!!! There is the 7130c.

Wayne,

the first two months of ownership for me really sucked. Fortunately, I still had my Nokia 6620, which works flawlessly. Anyway, IMHO they released the 8125 without working through all of the software kinks. I believe that the first people to own the thing, like me, were the ginuea pigs. Anyway, mine has worked absolutely perfectly since I installed the new ROM. It is a very good PDA and a great phone. The phone works better than any of the other PDA/phone deals I have used like the Treo 700/650 or blackberry. I would recommend buying it, but plan on updating that ROM.

Got a solution. This happened to me. I was advised to do the following and it worked great.

Take a USB cable cut off one end and expose the red and black wire. Touch the black to the negative pole of the battery and the red to +, directly. I held it there for about three minutes. Put the battery back in the phone and now boot it up. When it starts up, IMMEDIATELY plug it into the USB PC cable or wall charger to charge completely.

Apparently, Li-ion batteries will not charge without a software solution to charge and this will not happen if the phone is not running.

I had used connectedbits.com on my Audiovox smt 5600. I upgraded my phone and got a Cingular 8125. My question is how do i get connected bits to work on my new phone. It installed the .cab ok but when I launch the program I get an error message “This aplication (weather.exe) requires a newer version of the microsoft .NET Compact Framework than the version installed on this device” What does it mean and what do I need to do?

Thanks,
Ken

I had the same battery problem with my 8125 and could not find the issue on the Cingular site.
I did as Jeff Schaffer said above and it worked like a charm. Assume! Thanks Jeff. Saved me a hassle with cingular as well as the time.

I have a problem with my qwerty keyboard not working on my Cingular 8125. I’m not sure why some of the letters not working, it was working when I bought it. The phone has never been dropped. If you have the same problem, how did you fix it and why is it doing this? Thank

My battery mysteriously stopped working last weekend, when the phone would start to load, and then shut off.

I went into the Cingular store and told them it’s probably the battery, and they assured me that it must be the phone. I had a replacement phone sent to me, and it wouldn’t turn on at all– so I knew it was the battery.

I went into the store the other day to get a new battery, and things worked well for two days, and now this new battery stopped working.

Gotta love Cingular!!!

I have an 8125 cingular phone but the phone charger wont charge it up an i went too radio shake but their battery didnt work so i wanna know what the proble is?

I have an 8125 cingular phone but the phone charger wont charge it up an i went too radio shake but their battery didnt work so i wanna know what the proble is?

I tried Jeff Schaffer’s solution and it worked fine for me too. I will just try and be really careful to keep it charged as much as possible. This was only my 3rd day of owning this phone and I did wonder about how much juice the phone was taking. Still, I like this phone better than my Treo 650, so I will just have to get used to it. I imagine there are other things in the “learning curve” I’ve yet to discover.

Here’s a new one… I upgraded the ROM, but now the battery is showing 100% charged all the time — even after an hour of talking and using it. Anyone run into this issue??

I am having the same battery issues and I am on my second battery. My car charger doesn’t even work to charge up my phone. Although, that isn’t the only issue. I am running the latest updated version and everything. Not only does my battery life suck (only lasts about 3 1/2 hours from a full charge) but I also have Touch Screen Issues…for some reason the alignment goes off for no reason and I have to wait till it fixes itself hours later or sometimes even a day later to actually use it. VERY FRUSTRATING since I use my phone for pretty much everything I do for work and personal use. Another issue I have is dropped calls. I have the updated SIM Card, Cingular cell service is good enough…soooo i am thinking it’s the phone since I’ve never had a problem with dropped calls with Cingular in the past. I’ve been with Cingular even before they were Cingular and I’ve never had any issues until this phone. I love the phone but I don’t know what’s going on. I am on my 2nd 8125 and 2nd battery. I am going to take it back in to try it one more time. If that doesn’t work I will give up and just deal with it till they come out with a better one. If anyone has any suggestions for the touch screen issue or dropped calls let me know…Thanks

Chuck, I got my 8125 5 days ago. Did the ROM update first and noticed my battery would say 100% also. 2 days ago, it would not power up. Went into Cingular store and they did the same thing as many have posted: immediately got me on the phone with warranty and a new one is on it’s way. Seems we are not alone with this battery problem.

I think it’s ridiculous that the 8125 doesn’t have some sort of mechanism to prevent damage to the battery.

I purchased this phone for a busy executive director who has had the same problems with the power. Cingular sent me a replacement unit (without a new battery). I took the replacement unit to a local Cingular store to test with a charged battery. Bingo. The phone powered on. I fully charged the battery, gave the phone back to the ED and she took it with her out of town. A day later, I got a call that the phone was having the same problem and would not power up or charge. She hadn’t even used the phone since I gave it to her charged up and ready to go.

I’m not convinced that the ROM update will completely resolve the issue as well. Showing that the phone is always 100% charged is misleading. So, I’m done with this phone. What I want to know is how do I get Cingular to give me a working phone (the Treo is my next option) at their expense since there are obvious problems with using the 8125?

Stephanie,

Good luck with that. I am sure if you make a big enough stink, they will get you all fixed up. But, I have to say that my 8125 has worked pretty flawlessly since I updated the ROM. My 8125 displays 100% charge for a while when I don’t have wifi or Bluetooth turned on, and that is because the battery level is at 100%. Turning on the other radios burns up the battery more quickly, but nothing like what you are describing. I agree that Cingular should not release things without them being fully tested out in the field, but at the same time, don’t expect to have near-100% reliability from a brand new PDA/Phone with all of the features that the 8125 has. Crappy reality. Good luck.

I have had the same problem mention with 8125 battery won’t charge. If the phone goes c dead you must use the original battery charger that came with the phone. After plugging the original battery charger you should get a orange led to light up. The phone will charge

You battery is still good, don’t waste money paying for new batteries.
allen1906@aol.com

The battery issue just happened to my phone on 09/29/06. I called them on Tuesday 10/03/06 and told them the battery would not charge. They sent a new phone which finally came on Saturday 10/07/06 after paying for two day delivery with DHL. They sent me just a phone with no battery and I am still in the same boat.

I have had the same battery issue. The phone went dead, so they sent me a new one. The battery still wouldn’t charge. Finally got it to charge in my car. The company said you can only charge it on the original wall charger once the battery goes to a critical level. The person said they have sent out a statement to the retailers about this. I really think if you push it enough you can get your way–new battery for free. Other than that, I LOVE my phone, though. I am just really careful to charge it EVERY night. They also suggested turning the phone off when charging.

I used Jeff Schaffer’s method to emergency charge the battery for 3 minutes and then booted phone and charged it with USB. Thanks Jeff!

I’ve always heard that if you charge your phone when there is life left on the battery (like if you charged it every night) that it would eventually kill the life of the battery. Is this true? I’m hesitant to charge every night, b/c the last thing I want is a phone that won’t even make it to the night.

Well, I have been doing that since I upgraded the ROM a few months back. I have great battery life and have not seen it degrade at all. I don’t think you want to run it down to zero frequently. To be honest, I am scared to get mine back down to that level after what I went through when I initially bought my 8125.

WOW – I tried the “cut” the usb cable method and it works!!! I had th insert the battery and then nothing until I pressed the ON button for about 20 second and then it kicked back to life! It started to boot and then the charge light came on…so far so good…I will post later on the results of the battery performance as well as look into ebay for other backup battery…anyone have secondary market battery suggestions/price/where to buy??

Update to above – phone normal again holding charge like before – its only 1 week old and this was only the second time it ran out of battery power (and I have the newest ROM already). I had a 2125 for 9 months and never had a problem with it running down. I’m a guy who always worried about battery memory from over charging BUT NO MORE. Funny things is its used to be recommended to run the battery down to get a good recharge on alot of of items. Getting a second battery on ebay for about $11 shipped next….good luck to all on making sure you’re always with a wall plug, usb or car charger…

I also used Jeff Schaffer’s method to fix the battery. Worked like a charm. Amazing that Cingular denies that there is a problem with the phone. None of the Cingular stores in the Seattle have batteries. Wonder why?!

I have had my cingular 8125 for months and I have yet to experience one single problem with it. No battery issues or anything. As a matter of fact. I sometimes go three and four days without charging and I am constantly on my phone. I think most of the problems are due to the inexperienced user. Probably dropped the phone or something. But don’t knock Cingular or the phone cause they are not the problem.

I agree with TAN, its a great phone with many bad users. i am on my second phone, the first was never able to charge. name one PC that has NEVER once had a problem… stop compaining and switch to an old school bag phone if you can’t handle it!

Just wanted to say that I had the same problem with the battery not being charged. The orange led with come on but I would leave it for hours charging and the phone would not turn on at all. All the forums would have posting of the same issue with the battery and it looked like everybody was just buying new batteries so I ordered one off Ebay for a few bucks but then I kept searching around and found this posting and did what Jeff Schaffer said and it worked!!!!!!
Got a old usb cord and cut the end of and held it on the battery for like 3 mins and it did feel like it was getting warm a little.

I guess I’ll just use the new battery as a spare

I am the CEO of a recognized Indian charity. After considerable thought we bought CINGULAR 8125 through Bombay’s Compaq International around a month ago.

Three days ago while everything was fine, and while the battery was still charged over 40%, I, as per routine, plugged in the charger officially supplied to me by Compaq. Immediately the mobile went off and since then not once have I seen its screen.

I have failed in charging / switching on the phone, despite changing chargers, using their USB cable, resetting etc, etc. With the phone switched off, all memory is stuck too and I am suffering seriously, not just for mobile but also for pocket PC needs.

I visited CINGULAR’s official website, discussed this with their so-called on-line user friendly CHAT help. The brainless person at the other end kept asking for my Security No and US Zip despite being given Indian identity a dozen times. Every so often he pasted his apparently pre-programmed “I am sorry.. you have to call customer care” which obviously I couldn’t all the way from India. There was no other obvious source of help either.

Then I visited various discussion fora and found that several others have faced excactly the same problem. I have come across numerous such complaints with varying responses. I have an uncanny feeling that someone is posting tailor-made apparently fabricated “all-well” responses on such fora, while not one case of solid help is available.

Here are my details. Anyone can contact me. As for CINGULAR, yes I shall deal with them through law and if necessary such posts will be written on dozens of sites. Bullies, as Abe Lincoln said, should be dealt with as bully.

M Hasan Jowher
SPRAT, Rajnagar Complex, Narayan Nagar Road, Paldi, AHMEDABAD, Gujarat INDIA 380 007

91-79-266 236 55 / 66/ 77
info@mysprat.org

Jeff Schaffer you are a genius. I was super pissed as I thought I bricked my 8125 3 days after buying it. I’m so glad your idea works.

It really sucks about the battery life.

So basically, does that mean I can’t ever let the battery fully deplete?

that sucks.

on another note, after getting the battery to work and charging it, I unplugged my phone from the charger just to check the battery status and it turned off immediately. This was after 15 min of charging. Does that mean even though it powered on and my 8125 screen shows that the phone is plugged in, it is infact NOT charging?

THE LITTLE FEMALE PLUG TO CHARGE BATTERY FINALLY SUNK IN AFTER ALL MY EFFORTS TO RECHARGE BATTERY ON PHONE WHICH ALWAYS GAVE ME APROBLEM

I woke up this morning to a phone that is dead, I can only imagine that my battery is fried. Did you alls phone act peculiar or anything?

I assume that the when you do the USB cable trick that the cable is plugged into a computer?

I too have had the problem that everyone has beaten to death on this blog. However, another problem with the charging issues has been the chargers that some of the stores have been selling. When I purchased my 8125, the store clerk sold me a Motorola car charger. Not knowing the manufacture of the 8125 at that time, since it is not marked, I didn’t know any better. I later purchased a secondary home charger, at a different store, and was sold a motorola. Then today, when my 8125 would not charge again, the store clerk at the original store from where I had purschased the phone, said that the problem was that I was using a motorola charger on a HTC phone, and that then prongs are a little different. When he pluged the phone into the new charger. It immediately began charging. Check your charger’s. Now I’m off to have the upgrade done. Thanks for the info.

finally found my charger for the phone and finally was able to turn it on via the wall charger.. make sure its not the motorola one…..

Jeff Schaffer’s you are the frigging man! my phone went dead 2 days ago and I thought it was fried till I found this site and the red/black wire “jump start” for the battery…. man you just saved me a ton of money thanks a million!!!! ordering one of those high capacity batteries right now.

A sincere thanks to you and this website, Jim.

P.S. I’ve had the phone since March with no problems until now.

The usb two wire trick works. My 8125 died today, really frustrating. I found the little jump start trick here and would recommend it with one change. You only need to hold the leads on the terminals for around 20 sec, then put it on the charger/usb cable. You may or may not get a ‘spike’ warning but regardless, without the regulator built into the phone nothing is regulating how much power the battery is drawing. The end result is that if you hold it to long then you risk frying the USB chip on your computer to a worse case scenario of an exploding battery. These batteries hold a lot of energy and as the rest of the comments show, some of these batteries are not 100%.

Jeff Schaffer is the man. I used his trick with the USB cable and held the wires to the battey for one minute and I was able to get enough juice in my phone to get it to a charger! Spread the word on this as it will save you $45 for a new battery. Thanks Jeff!

A cautionary tale for those considering an 8125: My 8125 was something of a hassle from the start, e.g., poorly thought out firmware and “iffy” build from HTC. I, too, waited past the 30 days to return the phone (I was traveling). So now I am stuck with it. Now add battery problems to my list of 8125 faults. I’ve no patience for “endless phone hassles” (and I can write off my phone expenses) so I’ve retired the 8125 for a simple flip with bluetooth– perhaps I’ll sell the 8125 on eBay for parts. (I’m left to wonder if all of Cingular’s new-model smart phones are as bad as the 8125?)

No battery problems yet but does anyone else have as much trouble as I do down loading pod casts and music?
Tom

Just a bit more detail on how to do the usb cable trick jeff mentioned earlier would be helpful.

Alright, sweet it worked. Thanks a bunch. Oh and for those who are confused a bit about the trick: Snip off the end of the USB cable that normally plugs into the device, not the PC end. You need to plug the PC end in, and use that to transfer the power. You use the other end, and you will be sitting for about 20 min wondering how you are going to draw power from the air. Sorry, no zen powers are going to help you with your electronics.

The funny thing is I spent more than a month researching for the perfect phone of the models cingular had for business use. I weighed in heavily against the Hp models and the Treo. Previously I wanted the newest Treo however Verizon seemed to have had the exclusive rights to that phone at that time. With that, the HP model I looked at I read windows would not do any future updates for that system, leaving me slightly turned off. Thus, I ended up with the 8125. Don’t get me wrong…this phone has some really neat features.

Im going through the same issue with the 8125, its is 12/19/06 and I have been without a working phone for almost two weeks. I am loan officer for the state of Nevada where calls from clients are very important.

The replacement sits in front of me with no extra battery as this was the main issue. I was told by a corporate store in Reno Nevada this insurance company Asurion would handle the battery free of charge. Also, the corporate store did not want to give out a free battery stating, “Far too many users have had more then just a battery issue and this phone is to be sent back for a replacement.” The rep through this insurance company assured me that a battery would be sent. I opened the package to find no backing, no battery, no stylus. I can live with not having the other accessories as they call it, but not that battery. After 25 min on the phone at my hotel of which I am charged to call, the rep tells me, “they’re sorry but the rep was wrong and that Cingular should replace it.” With that I have called two stores in Richmond, Ca and El Cerritto, Ca of which are corporate stores with no luck of having that battery in stock. My search continues. I will update this site when this is resolved. I did ask the insurance company to entend the 10 day grace period to return the phone as I’m struggling to continue service.

HOPE THIS HELPS YOU ALL: For all those who have lost days/weeks of access to cingular and calling, they “should” deduct this timeframe off your bill. In my case, this has been almost two week and my phone bill is $95. So half of that hopefully will not show up after I activate my phone once I find a battery.
Credit your account: 800 331 0500

The previous battery wouldn’t hold a charge, by 6 months the battery would ruin out within 24 hours.

Insurance number: 888-562-8662

Email me at: carriethorpe@yahoo.com if anyone has lawsuit info, or knowledge in any updates.

Ok 1st off—- Dont let your battery die.
2nd—–If you do dont blame your service provider, its your fault.
3rd——I have had the 8125 for about 6 months and i am very happy with it. Battery could be better but i just learned to turn the screen brightness down and cut down on the time it stays lit when not in use.

GOING to buy the 8525 this week can’t wait.

Stephen, those things are easy to say if you have never had a problem. If what you said was actually true, then cingular would not have gone out of their way to overnight new phones and batteries to me and others free of charge. They brand it Cingular, it doesn’t work, it is their problem…and they know that. In the real world, people travel, batteries die. Good luck with the 8525.

Jeff, as a straight man, let me say I LOVE YOU!!! USB trick worked like a charm. live saver. thanks

Jeff Schaffer Says:

August 17th, 2006 at 10:23 am
Got a solution. This happened to me. I was advised to do the following and it worked great.

Take a USB cable cut off one end and expose the red and black wire. Touch the black to the negative pole of the battery and the red to +, directly. I held it there for about three minutes. Put the battery back in the phone and now boot it up. When it starts up, IMMEDIATELY plug it into the USB PC cable or wall charger to charge completely.

THANKS JEFF, your recomend was right on, got my PDA back up and working fine.

Jeff rules! After buying 3 batteries, I stumbled accross this site with thge life saving tip. Sure wish I didn’t throw away all the other “bad” batterires!

Jeff rules! After buying 3 batteries, I stumbled accross this site with the life saving tip. Sure wish I didn’t throw away all the other “bad” batterires!

I have just read this entire blog because my
step daughter came to visit and could not get her
8125 to charge. She is on her second battery.
My opinion, as a trial lawyer with over 30 years
of practice, is that cingular deserves to have
its ass sued off, or mostly off, for not having been
honest with all of you users. (I can’t do it, so I
am not trying to advertise for your business.)
So, the advice I have for you in your dealings with
Cingular is to mention the phrases “Class Action”,
“Multi District Litigation” and “Consumer Protection
Act”.

Jeff rules indeed! It worked and saved me from holiday travels without a phone. But I am really unhappy about the fact that I had to learn about this here rather than from Cingular.

Jeff does indeed rule! The USB trick worked for me as well! whoeee tnx Jeff!

I just used “The Schaffer Method” and it worked like a charm. I am so glad you posted that and I would like to thank you for that! Sure ended a fair amount of frustration I had this morning!

I used the solution posted by Jeff Schaffer and it worked like a charm! I used a computer USB cable (not the wall USB charger from any other phone). When I opened up the cable, there were 4 wires, red, green, white and black. I only used the red and black per Jeff Schaffer’s post. I guess the others are for data.

I also used the solution posted by jeff Schaffer. Nice… The label on my battery showing which contacts are + & – are not lined up to those contacts. But it is the first & last contacts. Once I fig’d that out, I was good to go. Thanks Jeff!

Jeff: I owe you a six pack of your favorite brew.

Hello,
I´ve just bought a cingular 8125 and it´s not charging. I tried Jeff’s trick and the phone turned on, but the battery is still not charging.
The ROM current version is 2.25.11.1. It became installed.
When I try Jeff’s trick, i can charge the battery, but when i disconnect it from the wall or usb, the battery doens’t last for more than 15 minutes…
Can anybody help me?

For Jeff’s trick can it be any kind of USB cable or does it have to be the one that charges the 8125. I have like an old printer usb cable, will that work?

Thank you Jeff Schaffer! My 8125 battery ran down and couldn’t be recharged with any charger. I googled my way to this page, tried the USB cable trick, and it worked.

Chris, I found that you can use a USB cable from a device other than your charger. I sacrified an old extra keyboard. But I bet this trick wouldn’t work with a very thin USB cable, like a retractable cable on a tiny sized mouse. Those cables are about as thin as ribbon dental floss, and the wires inside must be whisker thin and very low power.

Thank God I came across this thread. The USB trick did it! I thought my phone was dead, but I gave it a try just now and it started right up! It was easier than I thought. Thank you very much, Jeff!

I’ve never heard of a battery doing that because the charge gets low. My old Audiovox 4100 didn’t even do that, and it was about the worst PDA you can get…

Thank God, and much appreciation to Jeff.

Jeff Rocks! Ty Ty Ty! My 8125 is alive again.

i cant believe that bs worx, but it does!!! cingular, on this aspect im very disappointed… thanx jeff!!!

da relic

This phone sucks and t think I really wanted it. I’m at a Cingular location now, they don’t have the battery for my phone, I called Cingalar from they store and they’re telling me they can’t exchange my battery. what kind of bull is this. I am pissed. Hopefully the iPhone won’t give me the same problem.

Cocktails

My Cingular 8125 would not come at all after being on the charger for more than 5 hours. I thought, OMG
this phone is not working, Cingular would not insure it, what am I going to do. I researched on the internet, and learned that if the battery drains completely it will not power on. So I tried Jeff solution, I cut one end of a USB cord and jump charged my battery as he suggested, WOW as soon as I put the battery back into the PDA I was able to power it on, and I quickly placed it on the charger. Great PDA! I guess I am going to have remember to keep on the charger all the time. Perhaps, buy another battery. Thanks.

Unbelievable! Jeff, you have saved me from having SO much hassle!

I’ll be keeping this USB “Jumper” (LOL) around for a long time…

Thanks again!

I like your website; I will share this with friends

Jeff you are the man. Thanks for sharing….

i did the Jeff way also. jumped started it up. but no matter if its plugged or unplugged it says that the battery is still charging. then about 10 min later it dies

Worked a treat – now after doing a hard reset (dont know password/pin) all I get is a red/green/blue screen! – anyone know a WAY ROUND THIS?

Mr.Jeff Schaffer you are gr8. you really gave me a very good solution and saved my money time for getting a new battery for cingular 8125. your trick (Take a USB cable cut off one end and expose the red and black wire. Touch the black to the negative pole of the battery and the red to +, directly.) really worked. u r simply superb. Thanks a lot.

I drained my battery when I was out on a road trip. It wont’ charge with the OEM wall charger now or anything else. I did eventually get a light to come on (the red i’m not charging go take a hike) light. it stayed on for a day or so and I got nothing.. no charge. no blink of os. no anything. gonna call cust service i guess.
i think they need to do a recall or upgrade us to the 8200 model. or is it any better?

ahem.. i ammend my previous statement with a simple ‘Jeff is indeed the man’. Tried the trick. Booted up. I’m charging. wow.. how stupid is that? thanks man.

JEFF! MY FRIEND!! YOU ARE DA MAAAAAN!!!!!!! THE MAN OF ALL MEN!!! YOU THE MAIN MAN MAN!!!! THANK YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU A MILLION!!! MWAH!!! GENIOUS!!!

Logging into this website should be a requirement for anyone knowledgeable on earth these days…

I know everyone is tired of hearing this, but I had the same problem too. I have the 8125 Pocket Piss Me Off too. Some days it is useful and other days I just want to hand it to someone on the street for free – no strings, they can just have it. My phone died when I was at work yesturday. I happen to work for AT&T. I went to a Cingular store after work and they couldnt do anything for me. They didnt even have a battery. They just looked at me and told me to call the warrenty department. I did and they sent me a new phone, I got it today (prob a refurb). The phone still would not charge!!! That told me it had to be a problem with the battery. I went to every Cingular store in sight – no battery. They acted like it was some anciant phone. Im like, “If I can still buy the phone from your store, you need to continue to sell everything that pertains to it.” I call the warrenty department and they wanted to ship me a new battery……..you have got to be kiding me, it is a cell phone battery?!?! Since consumers are smarted than the companies most of the time, I hoped on Google. I ran across this site and someone made mention to use the wall adapter. I did and I got it to start charging…I was then able to use a USB. Try to use the hoem charger before you use the “jump” trick. I let the warrenty department know they need to tell customers this before they try to convince us to wait 2 days for a battery. Go figure……………….oh yeah, when I was on hold, that “Cingular lady” with the annoying voice said “Cingular spends $18,000,000/day on customer serivce………..to keep our customers happy………….” No Comment.

thanks jeff it actually worked.

Your site is also very interesting, very calming effect just reading it. Will spend more time with certain areas. Well done and good luck with your work.

Go to Tmobile. The MDA battery is the same for the 8125. My fiance had similar problems looking for a battery for the 8125.

Jeff Schaffer, thanks so much. Your tip was a major success in starting my phone!

Jeff,you are the guy, after searching all over the web I hit upon this site….it booted up and then went green..although I am not sure the battery is actually charging

Thanks from me as well…I didn’t believe it was the case, called Cingular, after 20 min, they told me to wait 15 more for the warranty department. A snip to an extra cable from one of my digital cameras, and 2 min later I was in business… you da man!

This did the trick! Who’d a thunk it? Thanks for the hook up, Jeff!

I threw away two 8125 batteries before I found this site (one OEM and one non-OEM). Anyone know if the 8525 has the same problem? I think it uses a different battery than the 8125.

Great Site, Yeah. Hope you can improve it again!

My battery died out and will not charge either.
Its the battery not the phone. Apparently there is a threshold of charge.
I took the battery of the phone for 2 days while I went to several stores to find one and when I finaly was able to get one on the internet, I installed it back on the unit and it stated to charge again.
I think the quemicals need to rest after they have been push for too long.
I canceled my battery order and have it for 3 months now and no problems.

Maybe I am one of the lucky ones…..Well, maybe me and 3 of my friends….we all have 8125′s and have never had any problems w/the battery or otherwise. Being programmers we each have had our own experiences with tweaks, hacks etc; but never any of these battery problems. If it was just me, I prolly wouldn’t mention it, but how is it possible that FOUR people (all friends that encouraged the others to get an 8125) from different parts of the country can have the same phone and not have one minute of trouble……in the same instant all of these people on this thread having all sorts of problems???

Maybe your problems are USER ERRORS?? Or maybe you have too much PPC for your own limitations?? Maybe you should consider getting yourself something less complicated and bothersome…..go get yourself a Motorola v180 and be happy.

btw…somthing I failed to mention also…..all FOUR of us bought our 8125′s during the same week (in Los Angeles, Texas, Alabama and North Carolina)…..in AUGUST 2006….and we ALL still have the exact same battery that came with the phone….so you will know, I average about 1600 minutes per month….so my apparent good fortune is not due to lack of use.

Thanks for the USB/battery tip from Jeff!!!
It worked! Just be careful..after about 2 minutes, my macbook shutdown that USB port since it was drawing too much power…

Hello everyone, i don’t wanna sound patronising about your phones, but if anyone wants to sell a bricked Cingular 8125, i will make you an offer. just email thetrade@ntlworld.com

thx, Bizigi

well, I was kinda doubtful of jeff’s handy dandy technique, but it really worked. I actually only put it on there for a couple of seconds and it said that I had exceeded the limits of my computers usb power supply. I thought that I had messed up my laptop, but everything works great. it is powered up and is now charging. good luck everybody.

Jeff, how in the heck does someone figure this out?Jeff, I want to hire you. let’s talk.

do what jeff said earlier… cut one end off of a usb cable… then attach the red wire to the positive pole of your battery and the black to the negative… hold there for 3 minutes….. battery will start to warm up… then put back in phone and boot up… as soon as phone starts plug into wall.. works like a charm.

dealt with cingular for week. Warranty Services sent replacement handset, no battery. They told me to a store to get a battery, guess what: stores don’t carry the battery. I just tried this usb solution, it worked.

They clearly know there is a problem and are not admitting it. Let’s class action it!

Had same issues. Did not expect this from such a big company

Same issue with O2 XDA Mini S in the UK. Battery appears to have discharged below a level at which the device will accept a charge. What a dumb design!! (HTC is responsible by the way.) Good news is that the emergency 5V charge from hacked USB cable did the trick. Thanks Jason.

My battery died too. I went to Cingular and they told me the do not sell batteries go to Radio Shack. My phone is under warranty so they said call warrenty and I did. They told me they no longer have batteries for the 8125

CINGULAR YOU SUCK!

One more confirmation that the Shaffer solution works. Thanks.

Phone completely died last night for first time. I drained the battery by still turning it off trying to make an emergency call… Wouldn’t charge and I found this website. Before I cut one of my many cables I asked for my friends usb charger (he has a Dash pda). It worked! I am guessing my original cingular charger may have worked, but that maybe be at work or somewhere else, but all the other chargers I had for different devices wouldnt work until I used another pda charger.. Give it a shot…

I REALLY need to thank you! Solution with the red and black wire worked on my Qtek 9000. I drained the battery On PURPOSE using a lightbulb, because it wouldn’t last at all, although after all you SHOULDN’T completely discharge a Li-Ion battery. I left the phone charging ALL DAY with no result, phone wouldn’t power up. This solution, though, worker FINE!

Thanks!!!

Jeff,
I live on my phone and make my living with the 8125. Here it is midnight but thanks to you my phone is working. I couldnt get the wall charger (motorola) to charge it, even after jumpin the battery off. So I have my car charger plugged into a booster pac and its charging. Anyhow, thanks a lot. I can sleep now.

THX JEFF

I just got my phone to charge using a modified Jeff method. I used a regular old transformer and a piece of cable. I set the transformer to 4.5 volts and held the cables against the battery for about 1 minute. Then, put the battery in the phone, and it started up. then, it began charging the battery like nothing happened. This procedure saved me from breaking a USB cable or putting my PC at risk.

Jose

Sehr informative Seite. Vielen Dank für die Infos!

CINGULAR OWES JEFF A FAT CHECK….THANX JEFF – WILL YOU MARRY ME??????

Ive had this thing less than a year and have replaced the battery 4 flipping times, and its dead again. Im giving up. This is by far the worst money Ive ever spent on a gadget. Did not deliver as promised at all.

nevermind, what the other jeff said does work. do that

jeff schaferr is my hero it really works listen to him

Jeff you are the man!!!! I was going nuts trying to figure out how to get my 8125 to charge, and I tried your trick and it WORKED!!!! w00t w00t!!!

we have the 8125. I charged mine using the motorola RAZR charger, and it was okay the first few days, but a few days later, i left my phone overnight on the charger and the next day it won’t turn on anymore. I tried my husband’s battery on my phone and it was fine, so that just means the battery is totally gone. Just yesterday, my husband charged his phone, when he came to check out the phone. It’s dead too… and cingular says, they won’t replace it, blah blah blah!!!

had the same dammm problem. They know the battery has problems, BUT THEY DON”T want to talk about it. If they agree that they have a problem, they may need to recall all the defective products.
CLASS ACTIONnnnnnnnnnnnnn time

It works, It works, leave the usb cable plug into your PC, cut the other end off and take the red wire and hold it to the positive on the battery, do the same for the black wire, hold it on the negative on the battery. Do this for around three minutes. When your phone boot up put it on charge asap, it works, it works

Jeff Schaffer long live and prosper! i put the wires to the battery, 2 seconds and blew out my USB port (LOL), then put the battery back in, plugged the bastardo in a different USB and started right up! AH!!!

i should’ve googled this ish before i went running around manhattan cingular stores to no avail – not one had an extra battery, charger, or another 8125 in stock.

THANKS A TON, you GENIUS!!! ))

I’m not McGyver just a mother of 2. The F-er died 5 days after my warranty expired. Cingular sent me a new phone with no battery, I have been on hold now for 30 minutes with their warranty division.

I think we need to unite and get them to recall this horrible phone.

Has anyone tried the Cingular 2800mAh Li-ion Battery For 8125 (Extra High Capacity Battery) you can find on the internet?

Call me McGyver!!!! It worked!!! I don’t believe it. I almost blew out the USB Port.

All Cingular customers: IF you tell the cingular CSR about this blog and wait an hour on the phone after hours they will authorize swapping your phone with the 8525. I’m going to sync up my phone so I can save all my pics and info on my phone.

yup….Jeff’s trick worked for me too. Thank you….another 8125 saved (as well as my sanity).
- josh

I know it’s months later, but I want to give another rah-rah
to Jeff’s instructions.
I left my 8125 charging overnight with a RAZR wall charger,
and woke up with one dead PDA!

A few minutes with the spliced USB cable did the trick and saved my days of aggravation.
Thank you!

Thanks to Jeff for great advice. I tried that last night and the phone is working perfectly now.

ATTENTION: EVERYONE WITH 8125 BATTERY ISSUES!!

My name is Sebastian, and I’m a news reporter in San Francisco.

I am doing a news story and investigation into the Cingular 8125 and their customer service department.

I would like anyone who might be interested in telling their story on my Nationally Syndicated Radio Program to EMAIL ME: sebastiankunz@clearchannel.com or call me
(415) 356-5502 anytime and leave a message.

Please include as many details as possible about what happened to you, and a contact number if possible.

-Sebastian

omg Jeff you are the most amazing man in the world. I have two 8125′s, and I thought both of them were lost. I stumbled on this website and now both are working perfectly. Now both my girlfriend and I have working 8125′s. You rock!

Aye Jeff you are a scholar and a gentlemen i did just as you sadi and eveything was everything

This worked AMAZINGLY WELL, I just had to hold it there for 30 seconds to get it going

# Jeff Schaffer Says:
August 17th, 2006 at 10:23 am

Got a solution. This happened to me. I was advised to do the following and it worked great.

Take a USB cable cut off one end and expose the red and black wire. Touch the black to the negative pole of the battery and the red to +, directly. I held it there for about three minutes. Put the battery back in the phone and now boot it up. When it starts up, IMMEDIATELY plug it into the USB PC cable or wall charger to charge completely.

Apparently, Li-ion batteries will not charge without a software solution to charge and this will not happen if the phone is not running.

Worked but don’t let the black and red touch. Did it by accident and wires sparked the PC complained a little but it did not do any damage. Just unplug the USB. Take a knife and pull off the black and red plastic coatings and find the metal wires through the white installation, twist and bend to make at point. Plug in USB and hold on to the plastic part of the wires and let the metal from black touch the “-” part of the battery and “+” for the red. I wasn’t worried to much about be shocked from the small amount power coming from the USB port. Lost a USB cable but got replacement battery out of the deal. Still Call and complain to Cingular/AT&T. Maybe we all can get a deal on a better phone.

Does Cingular have a service centre in Mumbai, India? The keyboard alignment is faulty and aligning the screen does’t help for long? Any advice?

Does Cingular have a service centre in Mumbai, India? The keyboard alignment is faulty and aligning the screen does’t help for long? Any advice?

I am in mexico due to an accident and surgery. THANKS JEFF!!!!!!!! God and Bill Gates bless you (just kidding).

the usb cable thing worked!!!!!

nice jeff!

I accidently broke the connection port of my 8125. However, the phone works, but soon the battery will die and I can not recharge it. Cingular says that I have to get a new phone. Any ideas?

Jeff, I’m the fan #12390182 who owe you the live. I’ve purchased this device from Ebay and came with an aftermarket charger and guess what… same issue that everybody talk about on this thread. I had it hard to figure how to plug this little piece because i didn’t know that usb is able to transfer data and power but it really get me back to life.

okay about 6 months ago my 8125 stop workin i thought it was broke so i got a new phone then that phone really broke (no doubt about it CRUSHED) so i got desperate for a phone i went back to my 8125 and decided to send it to the shop so i reserched it first and found this website and it hit me it maybe its the battery so i went got a new battery and a 8125 charger cuz i was using a razor charger and that wasnt good enough… so i got home changed batteries and plugged it up to my NEW CHARGER, I GOT A STREAM OF HOPE:: the charge light came on…… then went right BACK OFF…. so i juss left it “chargin” so i came back to the phone about 10 mins later the red light was blinkin so im thinkin its chargin now. i tried to turn it on and it stopped blinkin and now 3 hrs later still wont do anything but the battery was warm so somethin is goin on with it…. so im goin to try one more trick leave out the battery and sim car for 8 hrs but if that doesnt work………… any help……… any clue?????? ANYTHING……

Wow. Jeff thank you a lot for the battery trick so far now my unit is now charging….

I have had the same problem with my phone dying. The first time my niece told me when it wouldn’t charge or come on to wait a day and it would start charging again. That worked but I already had the replacement on the way. Am now on third replacement because I let the battery die again while traveling even though I knew better. I am going to try the USB and the ROM and will let you know how it turns out. Other than the charging issues, I have had no problem with Cingular sending me another phone because it had a year warranty. I don’t know if it’s because of all the problems stated here but they have been very nice. They do not however carry the batteries in the store which is stupid because they’d probably make a fortune on battery sales. LOL.

USB works!!!! Thanks so much. Been using a my Blackberry for a week and hated it but couldn’t get the other one fixed.

It works for me too, PLEASE REMEMBER THE PHONE WILL NOT CHARGE UNTIL WINDOWS MOBILE IS TURNED ON AND WORKING, so give your battery enought boost using the JEFF – FRANKENSTAIN USB CUT CABLE METHOD, you can use whatever cable with MALE USB CONNECTOR AT ONE SIDE, simply cut the cable and get RED AND BLACK wires connected to battery + and – connectors (RED TO +)(BLACK TO -), hold for 3 minutes, be careful not circuit red and black cables beacuse you can harm your computer.

After doing this method, i noticed it happened to me before but thanks god it worked before leaving the phone connected about 6 hours to my office computer, seem the sun tha came accross the window heated the battery and charged it (have you tried to charge AA and AAA batteries this way?), i don´t know if i were lucky that time but definitively this weekend i have not the same luck.

NEVER LEAVE THE BATTERY DRAIN OUT ON HTC 8125 PHONE, BECAUSE IT WONT CHARGE BACK FROM THE PHONE YOU HAVE TO USE THIS JEFF-FRANKENSTAIN METHOD TO CHARGE THE BATTERY, ALSO NEVER TURN OFF THE PHONE TO CHARGE BECAUSE IT WONT WORK or CHARGE.

HTC should ship with their phones this new cutted down cable to avoid us several problems and issues…it will be important to Jeff to patent this method because it really works and saves users to buy 1 or 2 or 3 extra batteries….Jeff maybe you should gain lots of money selling htc a bulk of this cables…..

Thanks pal

WOW Jeff Schaffer you are a god! To all the peopple with all these charging and battery problems USE HIS METHOD!!! IT IS AMAZING!

While the usb cable method will definately work be EXTREMELY CAREFUL! The reason the phone wont charge is because the microcontroller on the phone is most likely regulating the charging of the Lithium Ion battery. This is absolutely necessary since Lithium Ion batteries are extremely volitile. If you charge them too much its very easy to cause a fire or blow up the battery. Remember all the laptop battery recalls? That was a similar case where the charging circuit wasnt functioning properly and would allow the battery to charge longer than necessary which caused the batteries to explode and/or burst into flames. So if you are going to use the USB method be extremely careful to make sure that you dont clip onto the battery for long.

Also if you are going to charge, make sure to usb and not AA or AAA’s since USB is current regulated and batteries will not be current regulated.

So, if the battery is completely drained will it work using the Jeff technique or the original home charger technique or is it gone for good?

OMG!!! I tried it and it works like magic. i was about to go buy a battery and came across this. I am forever in debt to Jeff and this forum. saved me a bunch of money. Just like to say THANK YOU SO MUCH.

very very cool. tried the jump start method and it worked great! my next project is unbricking my phone from my stupid decision to try and upgrade the rom to WM6 from vista. everyone said it wouldn’t work from vista but i knew better…lol i suck. anyway, at least i can charge the phone again so i can try to unbrick. much thanks!

Hey guys suffering from the same problem though with the htc atlas…. will this method work for this? thanks

Jeff’s advice worked like a charm. I’m on my second battery and just placed an order for a third at the AT & T store yesterday. Though it would be free, they told me it would be 4 to 7 days. They must have a lot of request for replacements, the sales guy didn’t give me a hard time. I’ll just keep the other as a spare.

Anyone know if we complain about the phone if they will upgrade the phone to the 8525?

I tried this method, and I’ve gotten so far as the white loading screen on my tmobile mda. The orange light was on for a short period, then started blinking…and now shut off. But the phone is still loading…but hasn’t gotten to the main screen yet.

Would it be possible that theres damage to the software in the phone due to the battery problem? Or a problem with the usb port on the phone?

Does anyone know of a charger JUST for the battery of the MDA?

Thanks all!

This time I used the USB method and put the battery back in the phone which was on the charger, and DID not turn the phone back on. So far so good, the orange light is still on.
I’m going to let the phone charge for an hour or so before testing it, but I hope this works!!!! I’ll reply asap.

Tried the Jeff USB method , It did not work . Now I have one less USB cable luckily that was my spare.

called cingular they want me to pay 41 $ and 9 $ shipping outrageous .

Jeff you are a saviour after god. My battery went dead and I came across your advised using the USB cable.Your solution worked well. Thanks a million.

Abhilash just go to the store. They replaced my battery for free.

I just want to point out that all phones that trickle charge from a computer will not charge from a computer if they battery is completely dead. That’s why a standard wall charger is included. I have both the 8125 now and my Blackjack, and I ran into the same problem with the Blackjack. It’s not limited to the 8125, so stop complaining. Just charge the phone like owner’s manual suggests.

about the cingular 8125 dead battery, i got the same problem with mine; i was talking on the phone and suddenly it powered off by itself. then i tried to power it on to recharge but it turned off and never came back on again….but i left the battery out of the phone for aday or so and when i tried to power it on it realy worked and i pulged it immediately on the wall charger, and every thing is smooth now.

My blackjack just died today – and won’t power on (even with spare battery). The battery power was around 3 bars – when I tried to make a call; but the call wouldn’t go thru (twice) – so I gave up. Then, I picked up the BJ after an hour – and it won’t power on anymore. I also tried the spare battery. Any suggestions?

USB trick workd for me. NOTE the + – terminals on the battery on the end terminals not the ones directly below the symbols.

The usb cable really worked .
thanks

Thanks, Jeff Schaffer, that simple USB cable strip and polarity trick worked perfectly! I now have my phone working again!

I’ve had the 8125 for almost 18 months and just recently my battery decided to crap out on me. After going to AT&T for a new battery, they told me that they don’t carry them because it’s a discontinued phone. My real issue is how AT&T can’t at least order replacement batteries as well as helping to resolve the recharge problem. Batteries will not last forever and it does depend on there usage and how often it is plugged in. Car chargers do the most damage to batteries of all type and should only be used when absolutely necessary.

All that I can say is that it may be one year later, but Jeff Schaffer’s solution still holds true! The funny thing is that I have a couple of twists…
I had an 8125 with my previous company and had this issue many times. Being a decent sized corporation, I simply had our phone admin get me a spare battery and replace the one that ‘went bad’ (I traveled a ton and my phone frequently went totally dead). Well today my wife’s T-Mobile equivalent of the 8125 showed the same symptoms, but rather than fork out money for what I consider a class-action suit worthy design flaw I held my breath, broke out some mini-diags, and snipped away. The only difference being that I didn’t have a red and black wire, rather a core and a shield. Correctly assuming that the core was positive, I tinned the wires and held them to the battery for three minutes, started the phone, and it is now charging!
Honestly, I didn’t know if this solution was a hoax or valid, but figured that the worst thing that could happen was that the battery was indeed dead and I would need to replace it anyway. Nope!!! Valid solution for anyone having basic knowledge about handling low voltage electronics.
All that I can say is that the cropped and tinned power adapter is now in a location where I can easily get to it!

Worked like a charm JEFF THX A LOT BRO.. i didnt think it was going to work because i was scared of touching the wires.. but even just placing the tips works.. i did it for about 3 min like you said then plugged it in to my PC charger =] thx bro

One resurrected T-Mobile MDA over here! Your instructions worked great. I was able to boot again with today screen reporting 21% battery level and charging.
Thanks Jeff!

Two wire usb cable solution worked for me too… fingers got a little warm while holding the wires to the battery. I didn’t even have to reload all my apps. The cut USB cable is now in my Laptop bag that goes everywhere with me.

Jeff is the MAN!

OK, i missed something. I really want to try Jeff’s amazing tirck, but I’m gun shy. Am I looking for an old USB (PC to 8125) cable or an old wall charger that plugs into the phone. Then, it sounds like it would be plugged in while holding it to the battery, right?

OMG! Jeff’s USB method worked…I was so upset…went to att who sent me to batteries plus who said I would have to “special order” a battery UUUUUGGGHHHH thankful for my google obsession which brought me to this site. At first it wasnt working out for me but I kept trying. THANK GOD FOR SMART PEOPLE!

Jeff’s “jumpstart” method worked for me too. I did a slightly different take on it. Instead of destroying an USB cable, I took an old charger (Motorola), and simply inserted a straight pin into each of the two wires at about the same distance as the red (+) and black (-) poles on the batter. The heads of the straight pins made great contacts. One of the wires on the charger is marked with long dashes along its entire length — this is the red (+) wire. I just held the battery contacts onto the heads of the pins for about 3 or 4 minutes, and BAM! it’s up and running again and on a real charger now. And the pins only left a couple of small dimples in the wires and the charger is still usable.

Two more thumbs up for Jeff’s trick. Brought back to life a dead battery. Thanks a lot man, I was starting to get sick when I found that I left my NEW battery to drain out completely! shame on me.

Thank you Jeff. Ordinary voltage (4.5VDC) will do and cuts down on the USB risk. 60 seconds and I was running again.

Thanks Jeff!
I own a MDA Vario (Tmobile Netherlands, really a qtek 9100) and had the same problem.
Did the McGyver trick and brought back my battery to life, and it’s charging as usual.
I first tried with 20 seconds, but this didn’t do the trick, after hotwiring it for about 2 minutes it was charged up enough to work normally. One tip: I temporarily removed the sd card from the device as this saves on powerusage during startup.

Have the MDA for about a year now, and this is the first time I encountered this.

As I use it to read my exchange pushmail and appointments it really saved the day!
Now I can be reached from the office again.

THAT MCGYVER RICK WORK,,,THANX A MILL ,,,

HOLY CRAP! The USB thing totally worked! I woke up this morning and the phone was dead as a doornail. After some Internet searching, I figured it was the battery and that this is a common problem. Went to Batteries Plus and they did not have it, so I ordered one for about $50. They guy at the store said someone came in the same week with the same phone and the same problem. Came home and saw this post, but was a little squeamish about messing with stripped electrical wires, but it totally worked! The phone is back up and charging right now! THANKS JEFF!

Thanks Jeff, I’m keeping the “new” cable with me!

I have found the USB trick to work. Just Plug a USB into a USB port available on your pc/laptop. The opposite end cut, and strip the red and black wires, until the naked wire is exposed. Remove the battery from phone. On the battery you will see that there is several negative and positive terminals from left to right. Use the very most left for negative and the very most right for positive. Touch the naked red wire to the positive terminal. and than touch the negative terminal. Hold there for about 3 mins, and than quickly put the battery back in the phone and power up. Than plug into usb charger or wall charger. And “waala” the phones charging again.

I tried the jeff method and it got my phone to turn on, but then once i plug it in to the wall to charge the yellow light blinks, but it doesnt charge. Any suggestions?

Thank you so much jeff, saved me a lot of trouble.

Jeff you rock man!!!, gracias cuz I took the phone to 3 different places and they all charged me just to tell me to get another phone…. and I was about to do so.. I just turned it on and it´s working great!!! gracias de nuevo! salu2

as schaffer said, i ripped off a usb cables mini end hooked the other end to my pc, exposed the red n black wire and connect them with the negative than positive left it hangin for about 2 1/2 minutes popped it back on, popped the working usb cable in and boom it started working

another successful dead battery recovery – glad i found this forum… thx jeff schaferr

Dear Jeff:

Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you.

Thanx Jeff..and Marty M

red to the edge one(+)
black to the last one(-)

I did it only one minute,
my phone just turned on!!

I thought it was a joke.

you saved me!

I was skeptical at first on trying Jeff’s method. I was just going to call cingular or go to a store. But I tried it anyway, and it worked like a charm. I put the red and black wires to the (+)(-) for less than a minute. Turned my phone on and was amazed! WOW. Thanks Jeff. Thankkkkkkk Youuuuuuuuuuuu

Jeff thank you.

I got to say…I too did the USB trick…and not really thinking it was going to work…but it DID…my 8125 is back after a minute of charging with the bare wires…nice work…Jeff Schaffer…nice work.

i ve the same problem, but i lieve in colombia, i can not find that freaking battery in any store, could u guys please tell me or give me a website where i can find it? i will have to buy it through the webb.. tanx..

UNBELIEVABLE…..!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My phone is now working, thanks Jeff, I got to be honest but I didn’t think it would work, but yes, It actually works……….

If Ur having issues with Ur battery, I do reccomend Jeff’s trick……………………………

OK.. i have to say JEFF’s trick worked.. but now i have one problem.. So the phone is back up and alive, but its not charging.. the red light does not come on.. and the battery status doesnt show it charging ??

Jeff Schaffer’s trick worked with perfection; I took a USB wall adapter cable and cut it off at the USB port end; I then split the cables into two; used the white plastic coated cable for red and the other exposed cable for black; I plugged the charger in the wall and put the two ends on battery while holding it for a couple of minutes to jump start a charge in it; I then put the battery back in my 8125 phone and it started up instantly; I couldn’t believe it worked; I was about to buy a new battery because my phone has been inoperable for almost a week now; thanks again Jeff for the advice—use it everyone who has this problem—it should work.

I have had my cingular 8125 for about a year now. I have never had to replace the battery but now whenever I make or receive a call me my total charge on my battery drains quickly. I’m thinking I may need to replace the battery but if anyone has any suggestions on what may be the problem please let me know.
Thanks,
Roy Castillow

I tried Jeff’s trick, unfortunately it didn’t do a damn thing. If you can think of something else, please advise me

Jeff,
Thank you very much – the trick worked! Raj – perhaps you didn’t hold it on long enough. I had to do it twice to mine before I could get my phone to boot. Jeff, I think you should have marketed this differently – you’d be a fairly rich person right now if just everyone paid a couple of bills for this solution. Thanks once again!

Jeff Schaffer USB hack WORKED perfectly. THANKS.

Awesome, I must thank you, your curiosity and braveness so much Jeff. I tried touching the black and red tips of an older usb cable for only about 10 seconds and it worked!!!! woo hoo!!!

I tried Jeff’s method, instead of PC USB cable, I used a 9V alkaline battery (the type with both connectors at the top) and it worked. Alkaline battery warmed up in the process. Charging my dead battery for anything less than 3min did nothing.
Thanks again Jeff.

I find the whole, “Lithium Ion can’t charge while the phone is off.” thing to be a tad ridiculous… I’m in the habit of doing that from owning a razr which seems to keep some part of the phone on even after you shut it down so they can charge while “off”. At any rate, twice now my phone had died overnight while on the razr wall charger (I don’t have the original HTC charger.) and for some reason, with enough time, the phone will allow charging via PC USB. Mine was dead in my pocket all day today during school and I came home and it kicked on immediately after I plugged it into my computer. The weird thing is when I was charging overnight with the razr charger, it would show the orange light, but the next morning it would be 100% dead. :/ My guess is because the phone is off, the razr charger just bleeds all the power away…?

Lithium ion batteries are different than older style batteries. Every lithium ion battery pack has an internal charging circuit that is designed to protect the batteries during charging. The charging circuit is activated by the phone. If the phone battery goes completely bone dead, the phone will not activate the charging circuit (even though the charging light may come on). The reason that Jeff’s trick works is that it bypasses the protection circuit and charges the battery enough to get things going. Most of the problems mentioned here are a combination of the old ROM and this characteristic of the lithium batteries. Ordinarily, if the phone powers off, there is usually enough power left to start it if is plugged into the charger when it is turned back on, but if you try to restart it more than one time, without it being connected to the charger, it will probably not work thereafter.

SO: Don’t let the battery go completely dead.

If the phone powers down from a low battery, plug it into the charger before you try to power it back up.

If it goes completely dead, use Jeff Schaffer’s trick from above. It works. Any USB cable will work, just plug the other end of it into your computer (after you get the wires cut and separated)

Once you get it back up and running, make sure you have the ROM update.

The wiring in cables is the same on Motorola chargers (USB is a standard format) as on the OEM charger, but they do not produce as much charging power as the OEM charger. Same for computer USB connections. Some are capable of more power output than others.

The trouble shooters at Cingular (and most other places for that matter) don’t have a clue. Most are just average Joe’s, paid minimum wage and are just running you through a set of canned solutions.

Used the Jeff Method on my wife’s 8125. Worked great! Didn’t have to keep the wires touching the battery for long. Maybe 15 seconds.

The USB cable I used was shielded, so I had to do a lot of digging to separate the red and black wires, but of course, it’s so worth it!

My MacBook popped up a message about drawing too much power from the USB port so it was shutting down the hub or something like that, but it worked anyway.

Like everyone else, I’d like to thank Jeff, but don’t forget Jason! Without his blog we might never have found this info! Thanks guys!

I just had the same problem with my battery. I used Jeff’s method and I am now charging. Thank you Jeff!!!

THANKS JEFFF !!!!!! THE USB TRCI REALLYS WORK I WAS ABOUT OT JUST TRWOW THE PHONE AWAY AND I JUST TRYED IT ANT IT WORK THANKS JEFF

WOW! Thanks Jeff. It Worked. I’m so thrilled

I’ve not had the dead battery problem but when my phone gets near 20% capacity it will start rebooting continuously when I hand up or press some other keys, rescently even at 70% on hangup. My phone is about 18 months old so I think the battery can’t deliver enough power anymore. I think deep discharges can cause this. Even after plugging the pone in to the charger it will not stop reboot cycling. It appears to reboot just after attempting to log into a cell tower. The only way I’ve been able to recover is to pull the SIM card, replace the batter and then start charging. I guess this prevents the phone from turning on the transmitter which keeps the power drain on the battery low. A new battery is on the way.

Tried the usb cut cord trick and i guess im doing something wrong cause it didnt work.i there is 6 spaces on the battery i guess 3 for neg 3 for pos i have a red but not a black so i used blue which diagram for usb cords say blue is the ground red is power other 2 are data held it on for 3 mins put the battery back in the phone plug up another usb cord and guess what NOTHING HAPPENED!!!! im so pissed this phone is so many head aches and what do you know cingular says oh no we cant insure that phone

Hola, gracias por la solución al problema de la batería. Vivo en Córdoba (Argentina) y acá no hay servicio técnico de Cingular. GRACIAS TOTALES!!!

did this usb trick and it worked!

my 8125 is pretty old i got as my first phone after my bro used for quite a few years …. i connected it to the pc to charge it (it was 10%) then sudden it goes off and doesnt turn on .. its two days since it happened

I used Jeff Schaffer’s technique and it worked. I held the red/black wires for about 4 minutes and put the battery back to 8125. Then I connected the charger to 8125. Nothing happened. I step I was missing was to boot up 8125. I did that and viola!

Thanks to Jeff Schaffer! I tried his Jump-Start of the battery and it worked. I used a standard A-B USB connector (like for a printer) and snipped off the non-computer end. I held it to the battery for about 2 minutes, and it worked. I tried plugging it into my MacBook Pro for the jumpstart, but the laptop freaked out about too much current on the USB port. So I plugged it into a Dell desktop, and no problems. I really think it is lame that you cannot charge the phone when the battery is dead.

my uncle left his 8125 laying around so i decided to see if all the batterie failure comments were true , so i had the phone working for 4 days and before you know it the batterie went dead . Im about to buy a new batterie cuz the phone is awesome for how old it is

Jeff- you are a god amongst mere mortals, thanks for USB fix. my 8125 was bricked for months until I found this blog – thanks Jason for the blog.

Cutting up a usb cable and holding the red and black wires to the opposite surfaces on the battery worked very well. Like Jamie I had left my 8125 sitting for over a year. Now to hunt ebay for “broken” 8125′s!

“The Jeff Schaffer Method” is genius! Thank you, you saved me tons of money..Where did you find this out?

I keep a spare battery in my charging cradle, so I am really getting a kick out of these replies….

That did not help however when the phone went stone dead while camping last week and the battery went into lockdown mode.

Do not use a wall charger people. That is just asking to get killed.

Use a USB cable. There is hardly any voltage coming out of the USB cable to hurt anyone.

But if you touch those cable ends on a wall socket, prepare to either get shocked real well, or worse, die.

USB all the way. Low voltage = less risk.

Has anyone had a problem where you plug in an 8125 to a wall charger and instead of it charging, it does a rapid battery drain like a reverse charge?

I have 2 of these worthless phones and am constantly using the Jeff Schaffer Method on all of my batteries when they die completely but with one of my worthless phones, when I plug it in to the wall charger regardless of where it is on the % to full, it does a rapid draining of the battery. Therefore i have to use one phone for charging, and switch out the batteries between the two phones a couple of times per day.

AT&T phones are worthless.

Thanks a million Jeff & Jason for this quick, easy fix – and for this awesome site! U guys saved another poor battery’s lost soul. Those of you who say it doesn’t work, try several times and longer than a few seconds. I tried like 4 times before it worked for me!

Jeff you’re da man!

I was a BOHICA (Bend Over Here It Comes Again) day at work, and I figured I could push my remaining battery life to zero. Then, simply plug that baby in, and be on my way again.

Well, I quickly learned that’s probably not a good idea, and I was like WTF could go wrong now.

After digging through useless info regarding battery life or whether my 8125 was a POS or not. Then, the gates of wisdom shined upon me, which lead me to your battery savior site.

Here’s few notes for the newbies (like myself).

1. Cut a USB cord near the “male” end that plugs into your phone. This will ensure you have about 3 feet of “oh shit, I stripped the wires too much” and enough length to slice your fingers.

2. Then, strip the plastic insulation away from the 4 self-insulated wires inside your primary wire. Usually, there’s a red, black, green, and white smaller wires inside.

3. Then, strip the ends off the red and black wires leaving enough to make a clean contact with the postive and negative contacts on the battery.

4. Then, plug the USB cable in to your PC or laptop. In my case, I plugged it into my buddies desktop because his PC has “positive electrons” coming from it, and read a few incidents where people encountered negative ju-ju on their PC’s or laptops. So, when in doubt use a buddies desktop or laptop.

5. Then, hold the red wire to the red + contact on the battery, and the black wire to the black – contact on the battery. Wait for 3 minutes or until your finger catches on fire. Honestly, 3 minutes should be good.

6. Then, slap the battery into your phone, hit the juice button, and watch that baby come to life.

7. Finally, while the phone is booting, jam that AC cord into the female electron input receiver end, and let it charge for a few hours.

Hopefully, your battery will out live the useful life of the phone, and may the force be with you!

NO BS…IT WORKS!!!

Thanks Jeff!

Jeff you are the fockin man!… What a great fix… i was pissed because cingular… now at&t had a rep that was telling me that my phone was shot… tellin me all kinds of bs… like a new battery won’t help you… you fried the circuits… then proceeds to try to get me to upgrade my phone… freakin walks me to the new tilt… and was all in my grill trying to get me a new phone. I read some stuff on the internet saying that the battery did not have enough juice to run the OS enuff to where the charging system would kick in. I thought they would be helpful at the at&t store… but all he did was try to get me to spend money! JERKS!…

thank a million Jeff. May 8th 2008

hey i have a question i have a white screen on my phone when it is closed and you cant see the key board but when you slide it open the screen comes back on i was wanting to know if anyone could help me out that would be great. also when its slide out the screen has a slight flash to it where is tries to go white

Yay! It works! Jeff – You rock big time!

Hey it works!

Finally, after replacing battery (thought it was fried)

Thank you “Jeff Schaffer” for the quick fix! great thinking!

Jeff Schaffer you are the man !!!! It worked at the first try !!!!!!!! Wooooooow!!! Thanks man you saved me a few bucks!!

The ghettofying charing method with a USB cable was great. Now I am showing out on my block and everyone thinks im cool, But I have to of course thank the man him self Jeff Schaffer! Im changing my major to electrical engineering .

Jeff, thank you, thank you. I tried your system and it worked. Wish I would have found you about $100.00 ago. Folks just remember that the battery signs are not aligned with the + and – posts, but they are the first and last posts on the battery. Jeff For President!!!!!!!!!

I now have 5 working extra batteries!…thanks so much dude!

I am getting ready to start my phone with Jeff’s method, but I have a question…My phone wasn’t dead when I put it on the charger. I had purchased a blackberry and decided to go back to the 8125 I had been using, it hadn’t been used for about five months. I couldn’t find the original charger so I ordered a generic one off of amazon. It charged up and I began using it. It lasted about two days and then started dying really fast. Last night, with power left, I plugged it into the charger, and by the time I woke up this morning, it was completely dead, won’t charge–even with the blackberry charger, which fits, and won’t charge on the computer. Do I need to purchase an actual 8125 charger? New battery? What would cause this? Here’s hoping that I can get my contacts and agenda up and running today! Thanks for any help.

totally different problem. im on my 3rd 8125 and it wont charge i have three different chargers and 2 batteries. what do i do?

Thanks Jeff! That’s the only thing that ever worked besides the missing wall charger!

Try it everyone!

OK, my fone is having the same problem and i want to jump start it but how do i know what terminal on the battery is positive and which is negative?

ok ok ok everyone listen up the usb cable trick work and works instantly get a usb charger step 1 step 2 cut the end that plugs into ur phone step 3 read ur charger and find out which side is postive and negetive then split it dwn the middle step 4 strip the 2 seperate cords so the wires show step 5 hold the 2 neg and pos to where it says neg and pos on the battery for 3 mins then put the battery back in the phone and turn on and charge it immediately…. omg i so happy it saved me like 40 bucks 4 a new battery and i thought i had 2 dead bats but now i have 1 spare for trips and such…..thxs jeff

Thanks Jeff!! you are the man!! Also, thanks to David for breaking it down so that we all can follow along.
===============================
David Says:
January 18th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
Lithium ion batteries are different than older style batteries. Every lithium ion battery pack has an internal charging circuit that is designed to protect the batteries during charging. The charging circuit is activated by the phone. If the phone battery goes completely bone dead, the phone will not activate the charging circuit (even though the charging light may come on). The reason that Jeff’s trick works is that it bypasses the protection circuit and charges the battery enough to get things going. Most of the problems mentioned here are a combination of the old ROM and this characteristic of the lithium batteries. Ordinarily, if the phone powers off, there is usually enough power left to start it if is plugged into the charger when it is turned back on, but if you try to restart it more than one time, without it being connected to the charger, it will probably not work thereafter.

SO: Don’t let the battery go completely dead.

If the phone powers down from a low battery, plug it into the charger before you try to power it back up.

If it goes completely dead, use Jeff Schaffer’s trick from above. It works. Any USB cable will work, just plug the other end of it into your computer (after you get the wires cut and separated)

Once you get it back up and running, make sure you have the ROM update.

The wiring in cables is the same on Motorola chargers (USB is a standard format) as on the OEM charger, but they do not produce as much charging power as the OEM charger. Same for computer USB connections. Some are capable of more power output than others.

The trouble shooters at Cingular (and most other places for that matter) don’t have a clue. Most are just average Joe’s, paid minimum wage and are just running you through a set of canned solutions.

I picked phone up after letting it sit for 5 days on over the weekend and noticed it was off, turned it on as i was walking to a charger and it came on but acted real sluggish, put it on charger came back 2 hours later and nothing. no light would not start up, i tried car charger and 3 different usb type chargers and nothing. Found the original charger and it fixed issue.

Jeff’s fix worked for me, but after a couple of times letting my phone go dead, I got tired of the hassle of it. This: “Bargaincell- HTC Cingular 8125 PDA Smartphone Accessory Bundle – USB Twin Cradle Desktop with Spare Battery Charger Slot Dopod 838 + Standard Lithium” has an external battery charger dock + a new battery for about 30 bux on Amazon. The external charger will charge completely discharged batteries.

Thanks Jeff. Wish I had found this info before I purchased my 3rd battery….

Dang Jeff! The USB cord thingie worked!

I got a 8125 as a castoff from a friend who got an I-Phone and my kid broke 3 of 4 cell phones (the fourth was my fault–stupid gravity!)

The battery that came with the 8125 didn’t work. I tried everything I could thing of—punching it, yelling at it. Nothing.

I bought a new battery off bargincell.com via Amazon….way cheap by the way. This one worked great for about a week. I let it run down all the way one night and it stopped working too.

Soooooooooo—miffed beyond belief I did some checking on the InterWeb and found your solution. Cut the USB wire from my old MP3 player that I broke. Reading some of the caveats, I pressed the wires to the points on the original battery for about 20 seconds instead of three minutes.

The phone booted up again and is now recharging!

Thanks for the fix!

Don’t waste your time calling ATT or HTC. They deny even knowing about this problem and say the phone is an obsolete dinosaur and not even in their support system any more. My g/f and I each paid $800 for our 8125s plus another $200 for their dodads a couple of years ago, and hey pull this on us.

I am livid at ATT for passing the buck to HTC and had been planning on DUMPING ATT and going the the T-Mobile G-1 Google Phone, but found out it is made by HTC. There is NO WAY I will ever again use ATT or HTC for anything after the way they DENY obvious issues like this which are CLEARLY the result of POOR DESIGN and engineering, AND poor customer service.

Thank you Mr.Golod!!!

Your haggard way of recharging the batter worked perfectly for me! I only head the wires on the poles for a minute tops too.

To everyone losing batteries, cut a usb to mini-usb cable like suggested by the author. This should hopefully resurrect your dead battery!

Jason thank you very very much for the battery trick. Worked like a charm. To whom every is spending a ton a money on batteries, try the jump start. Can’t hurt and can save you lots of cash.

Good call on the dead battery rez there guy.

This does work….I have a small homemade Lithium charger that I used to bump the battery up…as soon as it has enough juice to boot the device, charging is smooth sailing. Thanks a bunch!!!

Great way of solving battery problem. It works effectively. Great method.
Million Thanks

mhmm :p yea my phone has been charging fine for the last five years :p until today ;p

Another one for the USB stripping method! Not only got my phone working, but I FEEL LIKE MCGUYVER!

I bought a new battery for my 8125 as I thought that my 8125′s battery was dead and gone. I had not used my 8125 for about 1 year that’s when I got my iPhone 3g. Tried the USB stripping method also and got my old battery up and going! So now I have two batteries for my 8125. Great method for getting the battery up and new again!

all i can say is WOW. i wasnt even thinking of even trying to attempt this. (Jeff Schaffer’s trick) it really worked!! thank yoou!

thank you so much the jake schaffer method helped me charge my phone

Thanks so much! It worked and the battery is now charging.

Wow! It worked! Amazing!

SWEEEEEEET Trick. Worked great

Tanks for shared this wonderfull trick, now my cingular works

Hey! it work for me too!, thanks!

how do i know which one is the positive lead on my battery and wich one is the begative. it doesn’t say on the battry

i need the software to on the cell
8125

GENIUS! I cut the cord of an old modem, pluged the the USB end into my PC and held the wires to the battery for 3 minutes. Battery back in the fone and… IT’S ALIVE!
Cheers for this dude!

Yay! It worked for me too – My battery didn’t show a positive and negative so I just touched the wires to it for about a minute. It gave me enough juice to boot up and plug in the charger! Thanks for the tip! I was actually looking for a new battery online!!!!! Now to try it with my husbands Palm that has been dead for about a year and will not charge.

my batery whent dead and then i try this method the phone turn on but when i try to put the usb its show me the charge icon but it doesnt charge what should i do?

you rock, it works dude! THANKS.

just bought an xda mini s and it turned on and straight off again wouldn’t charge buy the wall used this method straight on and working many thanks